The three Shelby County Corrections Center counselors claim they didn't know the inmates had left their work site until they read an article Friday in The Commercial Appeal reporting on the services for Cecil D'Wayne "C-Baby" Tuggle at the Cannon Center performance hall, county Mayor Mark Luttrell's spokesman, Steve Shular, said.

"Bottom line: the staff was negligent," Shular said. "And behavior of this kind will not be tolerated."

The counselors face a disciplinary hearing next week before center officials.

"These were minimum-security inmates," the center's director, James Coleman, said in a news release. "However, they were to always be in the sight of the supervisors."

The inmates were part of a 21-member work crew assembling food baskets for the needy in the basement of the Cannon Center. Six men, wearing uniforms with "SCDC" — for Shelby County Department of Corrections — on their backs, headed upstairs to the performance hall to join about 2,000 mourners forming a line to view the body.

County Commissioner Chris Thomas said he received emails from constituents concerned about the incident.

"I think they need to do more training with the supervisors," the commissioner said.

The inmates will no longer be eligible to participate in a work crew or to be released from confinement early, Schular said.

An investigation is ongoing and it is unclear whether the inmates knew Tuggle — an associate of members of the violent street gang Memphis Mob — or just wanted to attend the service, which included an emotional speech by Memphis rapper Mario Mims, better known as "Yo Gotti." Several police officers – some in uniform, others undercover – attended the memorial because of indications there could be more gun violence.

Thomas also questioned whether the inmate misconduct is an isolated incident or if the work detail program has had other breaches.

They are among about 700 minimum-security inmates who participate in work release at area businesses or work crews throughout the community picking up roadside trash, mowing grass, clearing up vacant lots or performing other duties, according to the mayor's office. Some receive a small amount of money, while others — including the six men involved in this week's incident — are working for credit to reduce their sentence.